The Last of Us
by Akayla's Pierced Heart
Summary: After leaving the CDC Rick and co. find survivors holed up in a wal mart. Reunited with old friends and some new will every1 be able to cope? Eventual Daryl/OC Glenn/OC rated for later chps
1. Chapter 1

Rick Grimes adjusted the large backpack he was carrying. The weight had started to make him regret packing so much. He looked over his shoulder at the group behind him. Lori's was the first face he saw. She had her head tilted down but he could see her eyes were locked on Carl who was to her right. T-Dog was right behind Lori with a shotgun resting on one shoulder and a duffel bag hanging from the other. Next to T-Dog, Glenn half walked/half jogged to keep pace with everyone. Dale and Shane were on the wings of the smaller group within the group made up by Carol, Sofia, and Andrea. That left Daryl bringing up the rear carrying just a small pack, his crossbow, and extra arrows.

Since leaving the CDC they had made their way west. When the last of the gas dried up they decided to go on foot but stick to back roads. Rick figured there was less traffic so there would be less walkers to deal with. In the two days they had been traveling on foot they had only seen three walkers. Rick had no idea where they were or where they were going. They just kept walking. Tied up in his thoughts he almost didn't hear the twig snap to his left.

"Don't shoot." A muted voice hissed from the trees. Everyone had whatever weapon on hand raised and ready. Rick's eyes tried to search out the source of the voice. But so many days of staring at the same trees and forest floor had taken a toll on his eyesight. "I'm coming out. Don't shoot at me." The voice was definitely male and didn't sound desperate or scared like Rick would expect. Slowly a young man appeared from behind the trees. He was dressed in hunting camouflage overalls and a brown long-sleeved shirt. Rick's eyes honed in on the heavy shot-gun slung over the man's shoulder and the smaller rifle in his hands. As Rick's eyes moved up he could see the man had a beefy muscular build that had seen it's fair share of exercise. Bright blue eyes stared at Rick with an expressionless gaze. Short dark-blond hair topped his head and Rick could tell he had recently cut it from the tan line on his forehead.

Before Rick could open his mouth Shane beat him to it.

"Who are you?" Shane stepped away from Carol and kept his gun raised. The man glanced once at Shane's rifle then looked him in the eyes.

"Name's James, and I ain't bit or nuthin so you can lower that cannon." Shane paled for a second realizing he was the only one with a weapon still raised. He lowered his hands in a jerky motion as if not sure he really wanted to.

"You all by yourself?" Rick asked, suddenly finding his voice.

"Out here, yeah. Saw your group passing by. I was all for letting you pass by but…" He paused and looked away for a second. "My softie sister spoke up for ya. She said bandits wouldn't care much for traveling with kids. So she asked me to invite ya over." He paused again. "And then some in our group recognized you."

"Who?" Shane asked.

"Let's talk on the move. I don't like being out of Casey's sights for too long." He motioned them to follow and started walking briskly.

"So who's Casey?" Rick asked keeping pace with James.

"My sister. She may be a softie but she's got the best shot I've ever seen. We patrol on the roof 24/7. That's how we found the others. The one's who knew you."

"And they are?"

"A guy named Morales and his wife and kids. A few weeks ago we saw them trying to get gas from the cars in the parking lot." James broke off abruptly when the radio on his belt crackled to life.

"I see you." A female said. "Keep your pace." James grabbed the radio and put it to his face.

"You see something else?"

"Just behind you. Don't stop and you'll lead it right to me. Can't get it yet, outta range." Rick and everyone started looking around but James just kept looking ahead.

"You heard her, keep walking. She'll get it before you can find it." Just then it clicked in Rick's head what James had said about being out of his sister's "sights." He had meant gun sights. "Is it just one?" He was talking into the radio again.

"For now. It's probably been following them for a while. I can get it when you get to the highway" A shudder passed through Rick. How long had it been following them? Would it have caught up the next time they stopped for a break? Were there more behind it?

"Her shot." Rick suddenly blurted. "It'll attract more." James shook his head.

"Her rifle has a silencer. Just keep walking." James' confidence assured Rick a little. It wasn't long before Rick heard the unmistakable moan behind him. He almost stopped but James shoved him forward.

Rick saw a break through the trees and beyond it he could see what was left of the highway. The group started jogging until they reached the guard rail. He and James made sure everyone was safely over before crossing the highway. It was then that Rick saw where they were headed. Around him he could see the remnants of a small town. Just on the edge of town and isolated on a small bump of a hill was a Wal Mart super-center. The parking lot alone was bigger than two football fields. There were only ten or so cars scattered around the lot. As they got closer Rick turned and watched the walker behind them stumble up to the guard rail. It stood there looking back at him for a second before it's head exploded.

"Got it." Casey said through the radio. "You're all clear as far as I can see." James smiled but didn't reply.

"How secure is this place?" Shane asked as they cut through the grass on the other side of the highway. Rick wanted to tell him to stop being an ass but he held it in.

"Being smack dab in the middle of tornado alley finally had a few perks." James laughed as he spoke. "All the glass doors have metal tornado-proof doors you can lower in front of them. The other doors are all metal too so it wasn't hard to weld them shut."

"How many people are there?" Rick asked once they got to the parking lot.

"Me and Casey, Morales and his family…" James paused and smiled. "Then there's Sylvie, Casey's best friend. Peter and Tanner are friends I grew up with. Summer was a shift manager here. That's how we found out about the tornado doors. Summer has been friends with Sylvie and Casey for a few years. When all this shit started happening Summer was on an over night shift. The store manager called her and told her to get everyone out and lock down the store. He knew there would be looters. Summer did what he said but not before calling and warning Casey. So we got there before anyone else did. After we had it shut up nice and tight, we spray painted the doors with "don't enter, all dead inside" and not many people have bothered us since."

"If everything is so locked up, how do we get in?" Daryl finally spoke up from the back.

"There are garage doors in the auto department. They are thick enough that a group of walkers couldn't bang em open. We keep a couple of trucks in there with extra supplies in case we need a quick getaway."

James led them around the building's east end where the outdoor garden center was. There was an iron fence surrounding the whole outdoor area as tall as the rest of the building. The one narrow gate leading out had four chains all securely padlocked. Through the narrow slits in the fence Rick could just make out a shadow moving among the plants. He stopped for a second took a second look.

"It's just Summer." James said still walking. "We started planting some vegetables and small fruit trees in the big planting pots. Summer likes it in there."

"Hurry up." Casey's voice was clearer than before now that they were so close. "I'm hungry and it's my lunch break." James looked up towards the roof. Rick followed his gaze and saw a woman waving her arm. Long brown hair whipped around her face in the breeze. "Tell Tanner to get his ass up here." James smirked and saluted her.

Once they were in the garage the door was lowered back down and locked. Rick let his eyes adjust to the darkness around him. The high windows in the garage offered little light. Rick barely had time to take it all in before he saw Morales come at him grinning. As the two shook hands Rick felt like a weight had been lifted off him. He had never felt right after parting ways with this man and his family. Lately he had been doing a lot of things he didn't feel right about.

"Come one, man," Morales said. "Let's get you guys some lunch. Everyone is getting ready to eat." As they walked into the main part of the store they passed a young man with dark hair and a wiry build who introduced himself as Tanner. Rick thought he looked like a troublemaker but he just smiled and nodded. At the front of the store were several smaller stores, a bank branch, a nail and hair boutique, and a small café. It was in the café that everyone was sitting around eating sandwiches.

When they sat down Rick started introducing everyone in his group. Just as he started he saw Casey walk in and make herself a plate. She sat down next to her brother in a booth table. After a very edited account of what happened at the CDC Rick quieted down.

"Damn man, I guess we didn't miss much did we." Morales tried to lighten the mood.

"Didn't find anything in Birmingham?" Rick asked.

"No." He shook his head slowly. "It's a good thing we stuck to the back roads though. We'd have never found this place. When Casey spotted us she yelled down. We might have never known people were even in here." He smiled again.

"And your Casey?" Daryl asked pointing at the woman beside James. Rick took the time to get a good look at her after she nodded at her name. She was very small; only 5'5'' with a slight build. Her long wavy hair covered most of her face but Rick could see she had the same bright blue eyes as her brother. She looked only twenty or so but Rick could tell she was older. He tore his eyes off her as James began introducing the rest of the group.

Sylvie was the woman across from James. She had dark tan skin, and a more curvy shape than Casey. Her hair fell in spiral curls just past her shoulders. Rick got the feeling there was something going on between her and James by the way her brown eyes stayed on him.

The other woman was Summer who was Sylvie's opposite with straight blond hair to her chin and a slender figure. Summer was next to Peter who could well have been her brother with the same shade of blond hair. But where Summer had an elfish shaped face, Peter had broad features and a bigger build. They all seemed so young to Rick. But the group had held together this long so they apparently knew what they were doing. As if reading his thoughts Lori spoke up.

"No disrespect but you all seem kinda young." Lori directed her statement more towards James.

"Well, Casey is actually the oldest." James said. "She's 27. Summer and Sylvie are 26. Me, Tanner, and Peter are 24." Rick was surprised. He was sure James would be the older one.

"Well, technically Duke is the oldest." Casey added.

"Duke?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, I forgot about him." James looked over his shoulder and gave a short whistle. A white and tan medium sized dog came out from under the next table wagging his tail. "He's only four years old. But that's like _how many _dog years? He's Casey's originally but I think he likes me better." James teased. Casey shot back a rebuttal saying Duke slept with her. As Rick watched the two of them banter back and forth he couldn't help but feel… Almost like he was home.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three hours since Rick had first set foot inside the Wal Mart. Now, watching his son play basketball with the other kids made him feel like this had been his life for years. He felt safe. Parts of him still wanted to keep his guard up but mostly, he just wanted to relax.

James and his group had made the place home already by setting up little camps of their own throughout the store. It was so big that finding privacy wasn't hard. There were three main sets of restrooms: one in front, one near the auto dept., and one near home and garden. James had made his camp inside the bank branch by hanging curtains over the entrance and setting up a futon from the furniture dept. Summer had simply set up a tent near the garden center and slept on a camping cot. Sylvie had her tent next to Summer's with the same set up. Casey preferred to sleep in what used to be the break room next to the auto dept. Her bed was also a futon and she was right across from the big family restroom.

Rick had set up a two-room tent near the home and garden restroom. He had found a blow up bed for him and Lori and set up a portable cot for Carl. Most everyone else had set up at the front of the store using tents and cots. Morales and his kids all shared an area in electronics where they had set up two huge portable gazebos next to each other with curtains hung up on the openings.

Most of the aisles had been left the way they were when the store was still open. The high windows let light in but parts of the store had to be lit by camping lanterns. A huge space had been cleared and a basketball hoop had been set up near the garden center where there where more windows. Inside the storeroom there was a set of stairs that led to the roof. Most everyone kept a sidearm on them at all times. Guns were also kept at each small camp and near the stairwell to the roof.

James had explained that in the first few weeks here they had only eaten what food would spoil quickly leaving the rest for later. They had even rationed themselves to only three small meals a day to make sure the food would last. Every empty container that could hold water had been filled and sealed shut the first day they where here. Most of the water was stored in the old meat freezer (that had been cleared out already) to try to keep the air from it. The rest of the water was kept in various places; some packed in the getaway trucks. It all seemed so well prepared, which was just a little unsettling.

Now, sitting in clean clothes, Rick leaned back in the lawn chair and sipped warm apple juice from a plastic cup. Lori was beside him watching Carl with a smile on her face. From his chair he could see Andrea and Dale on a bench talking. Glen and Peter were playing ball with the kids. And Shane was coming towards him carrying another lawn chair. He sat down on the other side of Rick and popped open a warm beer. Rick quietly wished he wouldn't drink but said nothing. Shane had been getting on his nerves a lot lately.

"Mind if I join you?" Rick looked up to see James holding a foldable metal chair.

"By all means." Rick replied. James set his chair next to Lori. As he did he sent Shane a disapproving look. Rick nodded at James in agreement. Shane hadn't seen any of it.

"Feels good doesn't it?" James asked after a few seconds of silence.

"What's that?" Shane asked.

"Just being able to sit back."

"Oh yeah." Shane tipped the can back almost finishing it.

"If you don't mind my asking," Lori began. "What did you all do before this?" Rick could see that James knew Lori was really just trying to make conversation. James just smiled and answered.

"Well, Tanner and Peter both worked with me at the steel plant here in town. That plant and this Wal Mart basically made the town. Sylvie and Casey both worked at the elementary school teaching. And Summer worked here."

"Any other family?" Lori asked without thinking.

"Our parents lived in Texas. We haven't heard anything. We had an older brother who lived nearby but… When we went to get him we just found his apartment ransacked."

"I'm so sorry…" Lori stuttered.

"No.." James shook his head. "Don't be. We've all lost people." Lori seemed relieved he had eased the awkwardness. "Besides, I'm lucky to have who I do have left. We all are, I guess." Rick nodded his agreement. "I do have to say I'm glad so many in your group can shoot. It'll help with the roof patrols. Sylvie and Summer mostly just keep to the CB."

"You have a CB?" Rick suddenly sat up straight.

"Yeah. I think Sylvie is on it now. We try to have someone near it at all times. We write down everything we hear. There's actually a lot of chatter in the afternoons. The mornings are quiet for the most part. Nights are kinda in between, some talk, mostly just static though."

"What do you hear?" Rick asked.

"Mostly just people sending shout outs to whoever may be listening. People give locations of where a group of walkers have been spotted. Sometimes we hear the location of a "safe place" but that could be a trap."

"You sound like you've been fooled before." Lori said.

"Pretty close, yeah. Casey got hurt. But we took care of it." He shifted in his chair. "I can show you the logs we have. There aren't as frequent as they used to be but we've kept records since our first day here. It gave the girls something to do…"

"I'd like to see them." Lori stood up. James stood and beckoned her to follow. Rick got up too.

"We keep the radio by the girls' tents." As they passed the basketball game Carl stopped and looked at Rick. Rick smiled and waved him back to his game. Just outside the entrance to the outdoor area Rick saw two pink tents set up. In between the tents was a round wooden table with four chairs around it. Summer sat in one chair scribbling something into a blue spiral notebook. "We get any news?" She looked up at James' voice.

"Yeah." She kept writing. "Just a sec."

Rick looked at the table and saw three more notebooks. He picked up one and opened it.

_**June 3rd**__**- Military convoys moving through looking for survivors. Picking up anyone. Avoiding this. Might be infected people there. **_

_**June 5**__**th**__**- One convoy overtaken by infected. They were headed for Fort Benning. Don't know if second convoy made it.**_

_**June 8**__**th**__**- No word from Fort Benning but got some sketchy conversation about staying away from CDC. Don't know why. Words were scrambled.**_

_**June 10**__**th**__**- Fort Benning overrun. **_

"Okay." Rick slapped the notebook shut at the sound of Summer's voice. "I got something from the camp at Preskitt. That place they are calling Flindleville." She paused and smiled at the name. "They are running low on some medical supplies. They have been for a while. They keep sending out shouts for help. The fences there are still standing. And they have food and water. But some of their people are sick. Just normal things, flu, colds, stuff like that."

"Well, untreated that can still be bad." Rick spoke up. "Have you checked this place out at all?"

"Yeah, Me and Peter went up there two weeks ago just to check if it was for real. We never went in but dad taught me enough to see without being seen. It's like a little town almost. It's actually an old army barracks converted to hold POWs during WW2. The fence is fairly new and strong. They have a water pump and they were smart enough to start a garden. The info we have on them is that there are up to 50 or so living there."

"You sound like you really did some research." Lori said. James shrugged.

"So why haven't you tried to join them. They seem to have a pretty good set up. Sounds like you could help each other. This place has a huge pharmacy." James gave Rick a hard look.

"I know, but I just can't…" James looked back at Summer. She smiled at him sympathetically. "I can't risk it now. Preskitt is a two day drive and… She could pop at any second. I can't risk leaving until after the baby comes."

"Baby?" Lori and Rick said at the same time.

"Casey. She's pregnant." Rick thought back to when he first got a good look at Casey. She was sitting in the booth chair. When he had gotten up from the table she was still sitting there. He hadn't seen her stomach.

"Oh, well." Rick looked at Lori. "Yeah, that's a good reason."


End file.
